Ya know, I hope these “surprises” really are worth the wait. I’d hate to put my hopes up after hearing “Oh, it’s full of revolutionary enhancements. Your jaw will drop after seeing Zbrush 3 Mac. It will be worth the wait.” etc, only to find out that these surprises are a couple extra brushes, or maybe a couple extra buttons.
However, on the flip side it could be ZB4, hence all the NDAs. Why would you need such hefty NDAs for a ported program that came out a year ago anyway. It would only make sense to release ZB4 for both platforms SIMULTANEOUSLY. Seriously why in the hell does Pixologic release the Mac version 6 to 15+ months after the PC version? Haven’t they heard that Vista is the disaster of the century?
For me just seeing Z3 on mac would be the biggest revolutionary enhancement and the best surprise of all after working with Z2 for so many years with no upgrade. Of course any new innovation or enhancement is very welcomed.
I’m curious what a ‘novelty’ is…
Aren’t we all…it at least is a sign there will be new features!
nov·el·ty (nvl-t)
n. pl. nov·el·ties
- The quality of being novel; newness.
- Something new and unusual; an innovation.
- A small mass-produced toy or trinket.
…hopefully it’s not the 3rd one…
First, I read the new email reply from Pixo, and I’ll believe it when I see it.
Second, maybe the reason that PCs are so susceptible to viruses is that the Windows OS is itself a virus! Case in point: For about eight or ten months my Mac has had a mysterious malady that defied all efforts by those hard working folks at Applecare to solve. My computer was waking itself up when put to sleep, and turning itself on when it had been turned off. Only unplugging the line cord would keep it powered down. I probably spent twenty hours over a period of two months, with innumerable techies, attempting to solve the problem. Everything conceivable was tried. Everyone was stumped. Finally, I was advised to take my Mac into a service center, since it was apparently a hardware malfunction. I never did, though, because I was too busy.
Well, the other day I removed Windows from my Mac just because I was sick and tired of having Windows on my computer. It's kind of like having a dead arm sewn onto your chest--who needs it? Well, to my astonishment, my Mac now functions perfectly. Problem is gone along with the hated Windows OS.
So, either Windows is a virus, or my Mac (who I think is extremely intelligent) hated Windows as much as I did and was kind of choking on it. Or should I say gagging.
Anyway, just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else here has had the same problem. If so, just toss Windows out the window.
Of course, obviously this means that I will never have access to ZB3 unless it's released for Mac.Hillarious! Dude you made my day! LOL!
Jaime is the big boss. This time if He answered himself this is very important and a very good news
Michel
Guys, the tirades aren’t helping. Phantom threats about ultimately quitting the very thing we want aren’t going to speed up the development process.
No outrageous forum tantrum about why or when is going to make it happen faster! Lets wait this out with some dignity, yeah?
Kill this thread.
This thread is a legitimate forum for Frustrated mac users…
why don’t you leave the thread if you dont like it.
It’s not the speed of development that people are (mostly) complaining about - it’s the complete lack of communication from the company. What might have been acceptable five years ago, from a PR standpoint, simply doesn’t cut it today, especially when Windows users have had v3 for over a year.
Pixologic has a management problem, and they aren’t going to do anything about it if people just keep saying,“No, that’s okay, take all the time you need, and don’t provide any information to your paying customers along the way.” Their problem, which we’ve watched play out repeatedly over the last few years, is this:
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Announce a coming FREE upgrade, to be released SOON
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Go silent for months, then drop a hint that the upgrade really is coming SOON
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Go silent for months (again), and occasionally drop more hints that the upgrade really is VERY CLOSE, and may contain SURPRISES
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Eventually release concrete information about the upgrade, including (possibly) a RELEASE DATE (a couple months out), along with details about the SURPRISES (ie, upgrade will be v3 instead of v2.5 or, in the current case, possibly v3.5 or v4 instead of v3.1) to justify the long wait and secrecy
As someone posted, either in this thread or the previous (closed) thread, Pixologic seems locked into a very old-fashioned development model, where new releases are monolithic and must be polished to a mirror sheen before they’re released to the public. While they have an admirable record with regard to “show-stopper” bugs, ZB 3.1 is hardly bug-free, but there have been NO updates since 3.1 was released, and there are Windows users who are (rightfully) upset that there have been no bug-fix releases as Pixologic has (theoretically) been occupied with porting the Mac version.
Also, this pattern has to be cutting into Pixologic’s bottom line, as they keep incrementing the version number without getting paid for any updates, and this goes back to the promise that v2.5 (which never saw the light of day) would be FREE for everyone. If rumors are true and the next release does increment both Windows and Mac to v3.5 (or even v4), then that will represent even more work that Pixologic has done (in the case of the Windows version, a further year of development) and not received any incremental (that is, upgrade) revenue from the existing user base.
Companies like Adobe live for upgrade revenue, so it can’t be good for the financial health of the company to continue this pattern of failing to lock down development and ship at reasonable intervals. As customers, we’re trying to get Pixologic to stop being so frustrating to deal with - other companies (Newtek, Luxology, etc) are much more open about development progress, delays, goals, etc, and the customers aren’t constantly pulling their hair out, wondering if the product will ever ship. A side benefit is that, if Pixologic can be convinced to change their ways in this area, they should see a major bump in revenue, which should allow them to hire more engineers and add features faster, thus allowing them better odds of staying ahead of competition.
And competition is, most assuredly, coming - everybody has sculpting as part of the modeling workflow now, everybody knows it’s necessary. While nobody has matched ZBrush yet (primarily because everybody else is coming from a “true” 3D perspective, which limits polygon counts in the near-term), the day will come when processing power, better graphics cards, and engineering talent will allow somebody to get “close enough” to ZBrush to put a dent in the user base. A secretive, slow-to-release-new-versions Pixologic will be more vulnerable when that day comes.
Last leg? Are they speaking of bipeds, 12 months for the first leg and 12 months for the second? Or are they speaking of quadrupeds, 12 months for the first 3 and another 4 months for the last leg?
Here’s to hoping they’re speaking of millipedes.
rbaumhauer - I hope that management gets to see your post. This whole thing was mismanaged very badly.
On a good note, I received an email about the development. My question to Pixologic was whether or not I should switch platforms over to a PC. I own a computer strictly for digital art. I bought a Mac for digital painting and came across zbrush later. I was ready to switch, even with the hassle, because Zbrush will be my main program. Their response was that the development has taken so long because Zbrush has been completely optimized for future updates. They advised me not to worry about switching platforms, even though I emphasized I’m inquiring from a professional standpoint. They also never said anything about v3, so it’s probably going to be some kind of dual platform update. So we might be the last of the Zbrushers to experience any delays. “Optimized” for the future also sounds like they will be able to update the program faster as well, as if they rebuilt it’s foundation or something. Who knows, I’m no programmer, I’m just some artist…
I had a chat with from someone at Pixologic recently and he managed to put my mind at rest regarding the Mac version of Zbrush.
Perhaps I was supposed to blab about the chat here on the forums to help ease the frustrations felt by others but I stayed quiet until I saw the last post by jamesPThornton. What he has written is part of what I was told so put the worries behind you. It is most certainly coming. 
Personally I cant wait to get going and put the negativity I have read here behind us.
Mike R
Bring on ZBrush 3+ for Mac, and let the healing begin.
Wow, I can’t believe how some of your are effected so much just by words. Pixo hasn’t actually shown you anything. I won’t believe it until I see it.
Page 50.
stoob, that’s a great idea. see you guys on mac release day!
Like I said, Bring on ZBrush 3+ for Mac, and let the healing begin.
It’s not like they gave me a release date. No one will believe it until they see it. Who knows when it’ll come out or what version it’ll be. I’m just relaying the info given to me from Pix that they’re putting solid effort into preventing Mac Zbrush delays from happening again, which is good news. I certainly don’t think they’re lying to me about it. The emails had nothing to do with the date of release or new features, it only pertained to future releases and my concern for professionally Zbrushing on the Mac platform.
If the words were I was told it was going to be released on //2008 and this was final and official they would still only be words.
Things have been stated clearer than before in emails and chats recently and relayed here on the forums yet still it is not good enough for some people.
Thats the way it will always be I guess. For me I am happy to wait for the nod to get downloading whenever it comes.
Mike R